What is the structure and schedule of official League of Legends competitive play?
League of Legends has become one of the most popular games in eSports, with apparently millions of US dollars awarded in prizes in recent years. I do not play the game, but I'm fascinated by how big the competitive sphere has become and want to keep tabs on it this year.
Unfortunately I cannot find a complete high-level description of how the official League Championship Series (LCS) and/or World Championships are structured, or when they take place. There's fragmented information around (which is out of date, too specific, or oddly structured), but it lacks dates and a connecting overview. Despite reading those sources, I don't understand the timeframe of "seasons" or whether one is happening now.
Please be verbose in your answer. Assume I am an outsider to the LoL community and know nothing more than that LoL is a competitive team game. Please use full dates with years in any examples.
Best Answer
The League Championship Series regular season starts early spring/late winter, in this year's case, January 17th. The season goes on until August 31st, then the top placing team from leagues around the world, based on their performance in their season from late winter - mid summer, competes in the World Championship which is scheduled to start during October.
The regular season for the LCS is divided into two splits for NA and EU: Spring split, and the Summer split.
At the beginning of each split are the qualifier matches where strong Challenger teams (high ranked teams that play competitively that want a chance at getting in the LCS and playing professionally) compete in a round-robin based tournament against existing LCS teams from the last season, who also must play well against the Challenger teams to secure a position in the LCS.
After the Spring split ends and the prize money is distributed respectfully to 1st to 4th placing teams in the league, the Summer split starts similarly to the way the Spring split started.
Also, between the Spring split and the Summer split is an All-Star tournament, where the winning teams of the Spring splits from league all over the world come and compete in a tournament.
As of now we are a week into the Summer Split. The teams end their regular season late summer as the top playing teams compete in the world championship for millions of dollars of prize money.
More info can be found here (although this is info on last year's season, many things are still the same) http://tournaments.leagueoflegends.com/s3-na-qualifiers/article/season-3-league-legends-championship-series
Pictures about "What is the structure and schedule of official League of Legends competitive play?"
Is League of Legends a competitive game?
League of Legends esports is the professional competition of the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends.How does League of Legends esports work?
The esports league is run by Riot Games and has ten franchise teams. Each annual season of competition is divided into two splits, spring and summer, which conclude with a double-elimination tournament between the top eight teams.What are the 5 roles in LOL?
Similar to any competitive team sport, each League of Legends player has designated a role in their team (identical to 'Positions' in traditional sports). The roles are as follows; Top Laner, Jungler, Mid Laner, Bot Laner, and Support.How long is a League of Legends tournament?
Exact match runtimes can vary, but most League of Legend match-ups tend to run for around 30 minutes. Esports organizers usually lean on these averages when structuring tournaments and planning for additional events.LoL Esports Guide for Dummies
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